Author Topic: battle wounds  (Read 5015 times)

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cjshaker

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Re: battle wounds
« Reply #15 on: May 12, 2021, 08:53:46 AM »
Brake relining kits that just before my time Doug I gotta be older than you.

I grew up around '40s & '50s stuff, Joe. My first car, even before my Mustang, was a '49 Merc.
Doug Smith


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70tp

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Re: battle wounds
« Reply #16 on: May 12, 2021, 08:56:42 AM »
I used to work with an older guy and he would tell me that when you get old that your skin would rot.   I laughed him.    Now I’m his age then and my skin is doing the exact same thing.   Just like you guys.   I done a transmission in and out on a new holland backhoe a couple months ago.  That was worse than FE headers.    Arms looked real bad

fe468stroker

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Re: battle wounds
« Reply #17 on: May 12, 2021, 09:12:20 AM »
Wife always asks after any kind of work on the Mustang if I bled on it.  If not she says I'll have to do the procedure again until I do because it won't run right.  Damn if she isn't right most of the time.

blykins

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Re: battle wounds
« Reply #18 on: May 12, 2021, 09:31:09 AM »
I'll be 44 in August.  I can tell quite a difference in myself in the past 5 years.  I know there's more coming too....

So far, with car/engine stuff, aside from the normal nicks/scratches, I had to get 4 stitches in my thumb from a sharp edge on a BBF connecting rod.  Also cut a piece of duct tape off of an aluminum bar and managed somehow to sever a tendon in my left pointer finger.  Required surgery. 

My biggest issue has been my back though.   Two years ago, I was afraid I was going to have to quit building engines.  I'm 5'6" and about 140 lbs on a good day, but used to pick engine blocks up off the floor by myself.  In May of 2019, I picked a 302 block up to put it on an engine stand.  A few days later I noticed a nervy pain in my hip.  Went to a chiropractor who proceeded to "adjust" me without taking X-rays or an MRI.  Apparently I had a small disc herniation on L5S1, but after a few days of his "adjustments", it became a 12mm protrusion and that's the worst pain I've ever been in.  Finally begged him for an MRI.  When we found out what it was, I ditched him and started seeing a physical therapist who specialized in spine injuries.  Took 12 weeks of physical therapy to get it under control. 

As of right now, I still feel it down my leg when I pick up an FE crank to set it in a block, but I can move around pretty good.   I do daily exercises to control the herniation.
« Last Edit: May 12, 2021, 09:33:32 AM by blykins »
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Falcon67

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Re: battle wounds
« Reply #19 on: May 12, 2021, 09:54:17 AM »
Yep, I figure if the car work didn't draw a little blood, there wasn't much effort in it.  Sucks but is.  Not on blood thinners at least, so there's that.  But have noticed it doesn't take much to rip a hole open.  Fortunately, I have always scabbed over real quick and that hasn't changed.  I've had the two Pfizer shots and didn't even bleed on either and zero side effects. Told the doc all those years of getting cut and digging in the dirt, grease/oil/carb cleaner/misc hazardous chemicals in cuts and using duct tape/shop rag bandages has probably kept my immune system in peak form.

Joe-JDC

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Re: battle wounds
« Reply #20 on: May 12, 2021, 10:09:25 AM »
Just wait until you fellows get past 70, and everything you touch bruises, tears, and hurts.  I can't trim a bush without getting a cut or a bunch of bruises.  Now when I work on engines, I wear 6 or 7mil gloves because if I didn't, my hands would be covered in bandages.  I keep band aids just about everywhere I happen to be for the simple reason that my skin tears so easily now, at 75.  I always told myself that I would be the exception and stay healthy and free from pains, aches, and be able to run, lift things, and work until I was 100.  Age doesn't listen.  Joe-JDC
« Last Edit: May 12, 2021, 01:33:37 PM by Joe-JDC »
Joe-JDC '70GT-500

SSdynosaur

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Re: battle wounds
« Reply #21 on: May 12, 2021, 10:21:53 AM »
As I age I have observed the emergence of an ever-expanding black hole that follows me to where ever I'm working. With disturbingly increasing frequency, I continually drop parts that seem to disappear without hitting the floor. I, literally, feel that I now spend more hours crawling on the floor, searching for dropped pieces than I do working, productively, on projects. Often it would be expeditious to simply begin by working from the floor to start since the magnetic force attracting the parts apparently grows exponentially whenever working against any sort of time constraint.

BattlestarGalactic

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Re: battle wounds
« Reply #22 on: May 12, 2021, 10:24:34 AM »
The fact I don't have a lift...(yet)...is a testament that I'm not ready to give up!!

Couples weeks ago I needed to replace the rear fuel pump in my '95 F150.  I did the front pump last summer.  I finally get the tank down to realize I don't have a new lock ring for it so I put everything back up(ugh).  On Monday I then call my local shop that does my shops repair work and ask them to do the actual pump install.  I just was not up to fighting with that tank a second time.  Never thought I would see the day I paid someone to repair my stuff.   Geez, getting old is not for the faint of heart.

My lower back has been issues for years.  My stiff neck makes it impossible to get into a small car.  The knees are starting to talk back about doing certain chores.  WTH?
Larry

Jb427

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Re: battle wounds
« Reply #23 on: May 12, 2021, 10:35:22 AM »
The fact I don't have a lift...(yet)...is a testament that I'm not ready to give up!!


Amen to that

gregaba

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Re: battle wounds
« Reply #24 on: May 12, 2021, 10:43:47 AM »
About 5 years ago I had just about decided to give up the Hobby. I just could not get up and down from the floor to  an erect position with out a lot of pain. I am a 100% disabled since about 2004 and it is a real pain to do anything that requires me to get on and off the floor alot.
Decided I wanted to finish my dads 71 Ranchero and my 63 Galaxie before I quit so I bought a lift.
Best thing I ever did.
Makes it so much easier to work on my projects and I don't hurt as much at the end of the job.
If you are having a hard time working on your cars I can't recommend enough a lift. Makes the job so much easier.
When I was younger and worked as a line mechanic we had lifts at the shops I worked at but I hardly used them as I could do the job faster from the floor and we got paided by the book hour rate so I just crawled around the car.
I might be in better shape now if I had used the lifts more.
Greg

FE4SPDMustang

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Re: battle wounds
« Reply #25 on: May 12, 2021, 06:16:03 PM »
Us youngings are hoping to have enough time and money to be you guys some day. ;D I did a number on my knees while redoing the interior in the Cougar. Less flexible these days so my hands tend to cramp up at random. Less agile too so misjudge and bump my head on stuff. A good cup of coffee after some gearhead victory helps. I am trying not to joint the "Ibuprofen gang" but it's probably only a matter of time.
What qualifies as a "Youngin'" here? I would venture the average age is 60+. I am am in my early 50's. There are no shortage of curmudgeons here at times.
I'm here to learn some of the stuff that simply comes from experience. You can't live from a book. I fly for a living and I don't care what you've read in a book most of it is simply knowledge from doing. I enjoy learning, and I know I am not going to be able to pick up tuning and other tricks that fall outside of the service manual. It's learned the hard way. Hopefully you cranky old guys share your wisdom so when I get older I can do the same. I'm already cranky and I am getting older, just not ancient yet..


machoneman

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Re: battle wounds
« Reply #26 on: May 12, 2021, 06:41:30 PM »
With thinning skin on the back of the hands and now even lower arms (normal with age per my doc) I bruise very easily. Even trying to be careful, those bruises appear regularly after a spark plug change or after banging (not too hard either) the back-oh-the-hands or forearms while doing car work. They do eventually fade away but look crappy until then.

Went on a 2 week FL vacation recently (and bought a great house too!) and upon my return noticed almost all bruises had faded away. 'Course I never touched a wrench then!  :o
Bob Maag

machoneman

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Re: battle wounds
« Reply #27 on: May 12, 2021, 06:43:39 PM »
Just wait until you fellows get past 70, and everything you touch bruises, tears, and hurts.  I can't trim a bush without getting a cut or a bunch of bruises.  Now when I work on engines, I wear 6 or 7mil gloves because if I didn't, my hands would be covered in bandages.  I keep band aids just about everywhere I happen to be for the simple reason that my skin tears so easily now, at 75.  I always told myself that I would be the exception and stay healthy and free from pains, aches, and be able to run, lift things, and work until I was 100.  Age doesn't listen.  Joe-JDC

Yep, easy skin tears at 69 1/2 here!
Bob Maag

Yellow Truck

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Re: battle wounds
« Reply #28 on: May 12, 2021, 07:23:05 PM »
I have to say, growing old is so much better than the alternative.
1969 F100 4WD (It ain't yellow anymore)
445 with BBM heads, Prison Break stroker kit, hydrualic roller cam, T&D rockers, Street Dominator Intake with QFT SS 830.

Paul.

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Re: battle wounds
« Reply #29 on: May 12, 2021, 07:24:05 PM »
Us youngings are hoping to have enough time and money to be you guys some day. ;D I did a number on my knees while redoing the interior in the Cougar. Less flexible these days so my hands tend to cramp up at random. Less agile too so misjudge and bump my head on stuff. A good cup of coffee after some gearhead victory helps. I am trying not to joint the "Ibuprofen gang" but it's probably only a matter of time.
What qualifies as a "Youngin'" here? I would venture the average age is 60+. I am am in my early 50's. There are no shortage of curmudgeons here at times.
I'm here to learn some of the stuff that simply comes from experience. You can't live from a book. I fly for a living and I don't care what you've read in a book most of it is simply knowledge from doing. I enjoy learning, and I know I am not going to be able to pick up tuning and other tricks that fall outside of the service manual. It's learned the hard way. Hopefully you cranky old guys share your wisdom so when I get older I can do the same. I'm already cranky and I am getting older, just not ancient yet..
I'm 46 but already have a lift. Have a bulged disk in my neck that's probably from an Ozzfest concert. We should all remember the old car saying..... It's not the age but the milage.
John - '68 Cougar XR7 390 FE (X-Code) 6R80 AUTO